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“The most exquisite thing you will hear in your life” – Laurie Anderson (The Times, UK)

Vivid Sydney and the Sydney Opera House today announced that one of music’s singular innovators – the towering, ever-transforming Anohni (known previously to audiences as Antony Hegarty of Antony & The Johnsons) – will debut her latest work in 4 exclusive Vivid LIVE performances at the Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid Sydney, the world’s largest festival of light, music & ideas.

Incorporating a series of immersive, sense-shifting moments, the show promises to be the transgender artist’s most ambitious and personal yet. Due to the expected high demand, tickets to Anohni’s Sydney-exclusive Vivid LIVE concerts on 27, 28, 30 & 31 May 2016 will be allocated by ballot.

Following sold-out ballots for Morrissey (2015) and Kraftwerk’s 3D Catalogue retrospective (2013), Anohni’s 4 Sydney-only Vivid LIVE performances will feature her 5th album and solo debut as Anohni, ‘Hopelessness’, which raises the dramatic power of Antony & The Johnsons to new electronic heights.

American electronic artist and producer Oneohtrix Point Never (who, along with Hudson Mohawke, collaborated on the new album) & Gaël Rakotondrabe (pianist from Antony & The Johnsons) will join Anohni on the Joan Sutherland Theatre stage in this exclusive Australian premiere.

The shows also mark Anohni’s return to the city that has embraced her from the start, from her 2003 visits supporting Lou Reed & 2005 Opera House performances (when the singer stole the all-star Leonard Cohen tribute show, Came So Far For Beauty) to 2010’s memorable Antony & The Johnsons Concert Hall appearance.

Destination New South Wales (NSW) Chief Executive Officer & Executive Producer of Vivid Sydney, Sandra Chipchase, said “Vivid Sydney’s cutting-edge contemporary music program brings the most outstanding local and international artists to Sydney & today’s announcement of Anohni at Vivid LIVE is the first of what’s set to be a stellar line-up for the festival in 2016.”

Revered for her inimitable vibrato & classic cinematic sonics on ‘Hopelessness’, the Mercury Music Prize-winner Anohni combines the symphonic, heavyweight beats of Hudson Mohawke (TNGHT, Kanye West) with Warp’s Oneohtrix Point Never to room-shuddering effect. Enigmatic Anohni is a 2016 Academy Award Best Original Song nominee. ‘Hopelessness’ has drawn comparisons to Radiohead’s classic Kid A as both a musical evolution & call-to-arms: the album’s world-warning single ‘4 Degrees‘ was released to coincide with the COP24 climate-change talks in Paris.

Vivid LIVE, now in its 8th year, will be the 2nd curated by Ben Marshall, the Sydney Opera House’s Head Of Contemporary Music. Recently named the 2015 FBi SMAC Of The Year, Marshall has brought the likes of Morrissey, Sufjan Stevens & TV On The Radio to the stages of the World Heritage-listed building.

Ben Marshall, Curator, Vivid LIVE, said “Anohni is one of the most talented & powerful contemporary artists working today. She is a transformative artist for this transformative festival. Her fluid, visionary, heart-rending and dare I say it, subversively pop mediation, on the tipping points of gender, sexuality, identity & humanity will stay with you forever after these performances. We are genuinely honoured she has chosen Vivid LIVE at the Sydney Opera House to unveil her most ambitious, compelling & perhaps accessible piece yet.”

The full program for Vivid LIVE at the Sydney Opera House will be announced during the Vivid Sydney program launch next month.

The Sydney Opera House expects high demand for tickets for the Anohni (Antony & The Johnsons + Oneohtrix Point Never) series of concerts exclusive to Sydney based on previous touring success. To ensure everyone has an equal chance to purchase tickets, the Sydney Opera House has put in place an online application process. This will minimise the congestion through sales channels & distribute tickets to fans across time zones, states & countries.

Apply for your tickets anytime between Monday 29 February 2016 (10am Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT)) & Friday 4 March 2016 (5pm AEDT). Tickets will not be allocated on a 1st-come, 1st-served basis; all applications received during this period will be equally considered. To apply, go to http://vividlive.sydneyoperahouse.com/.

APPLICATIONS CANNOT BE ACCEPTED OVER THE PHONE OR IN PERSON.

ABOUT VIVID LIVE AT VIVID SYDNEY

From 27 May–13 June, the Sydney Opera House will welcome some of the most ambitious & innovative local and international artists for Vivid LIVE – a celebration of music on the nation’s most famous stages – held as part of Vivid Sydney, the world’s largest festival of light, music & ideas.

Vivid LIVE invites the world’s leading music artists & performers to raise the roof of the Sydney Opera House’s theatres, rehearsal spaces, recording studios & most famously, it’s iconic sails, which are transformed into a unique lighting canvas each year for Vivid Sydney.

Now in its 8th year, Vivid Sydney, features large scale light installations and projections (Vivid Light); music performances and collaborations (Vivid Music including Vivid LIVE at the Sydney Opera House); & creative ideas, discussion and debate (Vivid Ideas), celebrating Sydney as the creative hub of the Asia-Pacific region.

Vivid Sydney is owned, managed & produced by Destination NSW, the NSW Government’s tourism & major events agency, & runs from 27 May to 18 June 2016. For more information, visit www.vividsydney.com.